Hand-held drapery cleaning tool heads are known in the art and generally comprise a fan-shaped housing with an elongated suction surface at the wide front end of the housing and a rear opening at the rear narrow portion of the housing for connection to a recovery tank in a cleaning machine by way of a vacuum hose. It is also known to provide in the cleaning machine a cleaning fluid solution dispensing tank which will provide cleaning fluid under pressure through an inlet fluid line from the dispensing tank to the cleaning head.
In our copending patent application Ser. No. 794,352 filed May 6, 1977, entitled DRAPERY CLEANING TOOL HEAD, now abandoned, there is disclosed a specially designed hand-held drapery cleaning head incorporating improved nozzle means for spraying of drapery areas immediately prior to moving the suction surface of the head over the sprayed areas. The elongated suction surface itself includes two off-set parallel rows of openings communicating with the interior of the head for providing suction or vacuum to the suction surface. Offsetting of the parallel rows of openings assures that the entire surface of the drapery material engaged by the elongated head will be cleaned or subject to the suction when the tool is moved downwardly; that is, at right angles to the direction of elongation of the head.
While the above-described tool and other tools of the prior art which might provide only a vacuum or suction for a cleaning head will function to clean the depending portions of a drape, they are very awkward to use in cleaning the drape pleats normally formed in sets along the upper margin of the drape. These pleats or folds simply cannot be cleaned with presently available heads.
As a consequence of the foregoing, it is usually necessary to remove the cleaning head and insert a modified head having a single narrow elongated slot which can be urged between the folds of the pleats and manipulated in an attempt to clean the pleat surfaces.
Not only is the foregoing operation time-consuming in requiring disconnection of the vacuum hose line and in the event spray fluid is employed, the fluid line, but also the substituted head must be individually inserted between the various folds of each of the pleats to assure proper cleaning.